The last five years for Woodland football have been underwhelming compared to years past.

Last year the Wolves finished 4-6 — 1-5 in the Tri-County Conference — marking their best record since the 2010-11 season. But that doesn’t mean the team is content.

They now enter year two under Head Coach Chris Smith who noted that the unit as a whole is looking more comfortable with his double-wing offense.

“I think the biggest thing that we see is that the kids retained information, and because they remember a lot of what we put in last year, we’re able to put more in, look at more formations, more plays,” he said. “We are definitely going to open up the playbook a lot more this year.”

While Smith called the plays last year, that duty will lie with new offensive coordinator Kyle Allen.

Allen played under smith at both the semi-pro and high school level for five years.

“He knows the offense like the back of his hand,” Smith said.

The Wolves had their share of offensive success last year, from the 65-6 win over Rosemont to a 36-point effort to top rival Pioneer in the regular season finale.

They’ll be returning leading rusher Oscar Sanchez, who finished with 738 yards on the ground and a 6.3 average toting the rock, as well as starting fullback Martin Vazquez.

Smith also referenced a number of returners from lineman like Estevan Abarca and Ethan Young to tight end and linebacker Andrew Kindelt, just to name a few.

“We’ve got some seniors and some juniors that are hungry,” he said. “We’re returning the majority of our offense and defense.”

They Wolves also have both quarterbacks coming back — Ruben Morales and Christian Stice — both entering their senior season.

Last year Smith gave them both some opportunities at the helm.

Stice’s athleticism causes problems for the defense, they don’t know whether he’ll hand the ball off, pass it or just take off himself.

Meanwhile, Morales has proven to stand tall in the pocket and throw the ball. Look no further than his Hail Mary to then-senior Truman Linney last year to beat Foothill 18-15 in the final seconds after Stice sustained a second-half injury.

Smith was adamant that both players are making their cases for the starting job.

“The competition at that position has been fierce,” he said. “But we do believe we can incorporate both of their skill sets in what we’re trying to do this year.”

There’s an optimistic aura surrounding Woodland.

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A second year under Smith, a new offensive coordinator to help open up the offense and majority of the starters returning on both sides of the ball have the team expecting improvement.

Still, the Wolves have to go through the meatgrinder that is the TCC one more time before the conference realignment — that doesn’t happen until the 2018 school year.

“This year we want to gain some experience and we want to at least be in the hunt for the playoffs,” Smith said. “That’s our goal, we know there are a lot of challenges ahead of us.”

Those challenges will come in the form of strong conference opponents, like Inderkum and Yuba City.

This weekend marks a chance for the Wolves to get live reps before the regular season kicks off on August 25. They’ll host a jamboree on Saturday with Lathrop, Mesa Verde and East Nicolaus coming to town to participate.

Varsity will play on the football field with junior varsity on the lower field. The action will start at 9 a.m. and end at 12 p.m.